Welcome Term 3 2007

Well its been a month since I've looked at this BLOG. A lot has happened, end of term, final assessment for EDU5471 completed and marked, school holidays have come and gone and we're all back for the new term.

Managed to pass EDU 5471 - feeling much better about online study now!!

What's on the agenda for this term? Immediately, Microsoft Schools Agreement, principals meeting in Roma and diocesan teachers inservices in Charleville, Roma and Toowoomba. Followed by eight weeks as Assistant Director, whilst the assistant director (my boss) is on Long Service and Sabbatical Leave. Should be an interesting experience!

The schools agreement has been somewhat difficult to negoitiate, trying to get agreement on schools not paying for any new licences for the rest of the year until the contract begins in January 2008. Microsoft are moving towards this and I'm hoping they will waive the licencing fees in time for me to prepare a presentation for the principals meeting next week. This is looking as if it may happen.

Week 7

Another week gone. No time to even look at uni work for the past two weeks - things have been hectic at work. I'll be glad when the holidays arrive - 3 weeks!

What's occupied my time? Licensing and BID. System E-trust licenses need renewal, ran out in March! Trying to get numbers from schools is proving to be difficult, they have no understanding of the need to look to requirements over the next two years. I've been able to contact other schools taking advantage of our buying power - all back with us, can't get St Mary's College Ipswich to return my calls.

Microsoft licensing has proven to be a headache for years, looking to Schools Agreement, cheaper pricing on 2500+ units. Downlands and St Ursula's keen, now have to provide the system with facts and figures to support this approach.

Going to Brisbane tomorrow - QCEC ICT Committee: USI; QLD Catholic Education Network (QCEN) strategy ; State & Catholic ICT dialogue; Clever Networks Round 2 ; Religious Education Resources Trial ; Finance & Resourcing and ICT ; QCEC Strategic Priorities

A busy few weeks

Been a bit slack over the past few weeks. Life has been busy and work has proved to be somewhat demanding. Finalised the wireless network at Inglewood, all user accounts running, and a great deal of activity is evident.

Prep Learning Profile contract is in place, full deployment commences next week. This week will see technical training offered for our techs and planning for the roll out.

Its time to organise BID 2007 (Bishop's Inservice Day). All teachers in the diocese come together for a day of inservice and socialising. Three venues, Charleville, Roma and Toowoomba. Toowoomba places great demands upon CEO office personnel in the planning area. It can be difficult organising activities for 750+ teachers and school employees. This year we have a new weapon in our planning arsenal - Summit - conference planning software. I've spent time familiarising myself with the software and completing the data entry! How boring! Yet essential to ensure a thorough knowledge of the application. Training of other staff in its use has commenced.

Wireless Installation

Had a very busy week last week. Went to Taroom and Inglewood to put laptops on networks and install wireless access points. Both schools have made the decision to provide staff and students with mobile hardware to free up space in the classrooms and provide students with the opportunity to access the network in a variety of settings - not just in the classroom or library!

Took a few hours at each school to setup the wireless capability - windows access for logging on to the network when booting is essential.

Also helped with the setup of Inbteractive Whiteboards.

Licencing

Spent a few hours at Data #3 today discussing licencing issues, with particular reference to Microsoft products and a renewal of our virus software licences next year.

I am looking at the following Microsoft options in licencing for our schools:

• Select Agreements - applications bought on an individual basis as the need arises. Purchasers tend to keep these for a set period ie 3- 4 years before rolling over to new versions when a new licence must be purchased.
• System Agreement - requires a minimum of 2500 units to be licenced. A number of options for software suites, including Office, Desktop, etc - prices vary depending upon software required and paid annually. Includes all updates and rollovers to new version, such as Office 2003 to Office 2007
• Consortia Agreement - a minimum of 2500 units, but can be made up of a number of schools all with a range of software to suit their individual needs. Licencing costs vary from school to school as a result. Licences includes all updates and new versions.
• School Agreement - individual schools enter into an agreement to have a suite of software tailored to their own needs. This being the most expensive option. Licences include all updates and new versions.

Schools will be informed of this discussion and invited to participate in system wide debate to assist with the development of a proposal to take this to the next stage. I would anticipate having something in place for the beginning of the 2008 school year.

Prep Learning Profile

Today saw a big step forward for our Prep teachers and the options they have for recording of student achievement and progress.

There has been much discussion for many years regarding record keeping in the early years, generally called portfolios. Teachers have been struggling with the whole concept and attempting to keep records that are anecdotal and provide samples of work as evidence. One enterprising individual within our system had devised a system of linked powerpoints, illustrating student progress throughout the year. A novel approach though somewhat cumbersome.

Last year this concept was taken and developed into a computer application we call "The Prep Learning Profile". The PLP being the result of input and collaboration from people working in the areas of IT, Programming, Curriculum and a number of practising teachers. The result being an application that is not only able to track progress in the early years, but has the potential to extend up to year 10.

Today we rolled a trial version out to our prep teachers, with the intention of having a fully operational application by the end of this term. This is a major achievement and shows what is possible when people come together, each with their own area of expertise, and pool their knowledge.

School Online

Just been out to one of our country schools to finalise the installation of a server (the first they have had), complete infrastructre installation and the approve the purchase of new hardware. This has proved to be one of the highlights of my year to date. To see a school go from running a peer to peer network on PCs that are at least 5 years old, via cat 5e cables running across the classroom floor, to a fully integrated network with mostly new hardware. The staff are keen to get and use the new gear and provide students with the experiences they should have been having but have not.

Hardware includes new PCs, laptops, 2 wireless access points for both staff and student use.

Discussion with the teachers has seen them participate in PD in many areas of ICT including the installation of an interactive whiteboard. We are planning to have years 5-7 develop basic webpages and introduce BLOGS later in the year.

This is ICT in action, online communication and collaboration at the classroom level, and illustrates just how ICT can provide isolated students and teachers with the opportunity to access the wider community.

Online Communication

I created this BLOG quite some time ago and have been somewhat lapse in getting back to it. I believe that this is specifically associated with the nature of online communication and the demands it places upon the user. It is no longer acceptable to comment and leave it at that, the user is expected to continue the communication and even develop the argument in some cases.

The type of communication demanded in a course such as this entails the user committing a considerable amount of time to merely read and become familiar with comments made by others. I find this to be difficult whilst also working online in my current role. Not that this a fault of the course, it is something I have to develop for myself in the allocation of time and acknowledge that it is ongoing, ie access must be daily in order to move ahead.

In working online we are not only using the internet for social interaction, but at a far deeper level we are creating communities that are able to support users in their personal and academic development. This may in time put us all into contact with people and communities we would have no hope of reaching using the more conventional means of communication that were available 20 years ago. This course alone has people participating from a number of different countries and is indicative of how the internet is providing a new and immediate means of communication for a group of people who would not have "met" if it had not been for this technology being available. It is also a graphic illustration of how far USQ has come with the development of its online courses and its promotion of such.

This is my first attempt at creating a BLOG for myself. However I have accessed Blogs created by family members whilst they have been overseas.